BATON ROUGE — With 11,162 fans from across the state witnessing the first meeting between the schools since 1945, LSU bolted to an 18-point halftime lead over UL-Lafayette and held off the Ragin’ Cajuns in the second half, 83-65, on Tuesday night in the Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU improved to 7-1 going into an 11-day break for final exams, while ULL fell to 2-3. The Tigers won their 39th straight over in-state opponents dating back to 1989, while improving to 30-0 in the John Brady era when eclipsing 80 points.
Ronald Dupree led the Tigers with a career-high 29 and 10 rebounds, while Collis Temple III also had a double-double, 20 and 11 boards. Dupree made 8-of-11 from the field and 11-of-14 from the free throw line while contributing six assists.
Torris Bright and Thomas Davis were also in double figures for LSU, as Bright had 14 points and five assists while Davis scored 11. Jermaine Williams also played well for LSU, grabbing nine rebounds, dishing six assists and scoring four points.
Anthony Johnson led ULL with 18 points and eight rebounds and Michael Southall scored 11 before fouling out with under a minute to play.
After ULL scored the first basket of the game, LSU rolled off five straight including a three pointer Dupree. The Tigers ran out to a 16-6 lead before the Ragin’ Cajuns put up four straight when LSU turned the ball over on an end-bounds pass.
At the 12-minute media timeout, LSU led 19-10 — including 10 points by Dupree — on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line.
Dupree brought down a high alley-oop from Bright with one hand for dunk and a 20-12 lead with 10:40 remaining.
Temple’s first three pointer of the evening at the 8:14 mark put the Tigers ahead by 14, 27-13, and gave Temple his eighth point of the game on 3-of-4 shooting. LSU continued to shoot well, making 9-of-14 in the first 12 minutes, and ULL continued to struggle at 28.6 percent (6 of 21).
The Ragin’ Cajuns closed the gap to 27-20 over the next three minutes on a three pointer by Anthony Johnson.
After ULL cut the lead to seven yet again, Bright hit back-to-back threes and Jermaine Williams found Thomas Davis for another high-flying alley-oop and a 41-26 lead with 1:24 to play in the first half.
LSU led 45-27 at the half.
ULL cut the lead to 13, 51-38 on a three-point play by Kenneth Lawrence. However, Bright drained a three pointer and then started a fast-break score to increase the lead to 18 again, 56-38, with 15:17 to play.
The Cajuns again cut into the LSU lead, 59-47, as the Tigers had trouble taking care of the ball. The Tigers mounted 19 turnovers with 8:45 to play, but neither team managed a run due to poor shooting. ULL fell to 29.3 percent from the field (17 of 58) for the game, while LSU was 4-of-20 for the second half.
The lead got as slim as nine, 59-50, before LSU responded to bring it back to 14 on a four-on-zero fast break that turned into a pass-and-dunk exhibition by Bright and Dupree.
Two minutes later, LSU was up 17 and the game was in hand.
The Tigers return to action after a break for final exams on Dec. 15 against McNeese State at 7 p.m. in the PMAC.